18 May 2013

18 May 2013

Accused cleric link to top music school probe

THE senior Anglican clergyman at the centre of an international child sex scandal was also a governor of a prestigious English music college that is under investigation for the alleged abuse of scores of its students across decades.

Robert Waddington, who is alleged to have sexually assaulted students and choirboys in Britain and Australia, was a governor of the scandal-hit Chetham’s School of Music for nine years. Waddington recruited students from the school for his choir at Manchester Cathedral, and allegedly abused at least three of the boys until he retired in 1993.

The police investigation into the school, which began after the conviction in February of Michael Brewer, a former Chetham’s music director, for the sexual abuse of female students, has not previously looked at Waddington.